


It's High Swoon

by Father_Ji



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-10-13 22:52:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10523589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Father_Ji/pseuds/Father_Ji
Summary: This is set in a universe where overwatch does not exist and Jesse McCree is a simple farmhand coming to take you out on a date.





	1. Chapter 1

The sun was slowly setting as the clock approached 8 o'clock, the sounds of cicadas chirping in the trees outside played a melody while I walked through the house. Where is he? It's almost eight. I thought to myself as I walked through my house, the soft pattering of my yellow flats echo across the wooden floor. Just as I walk past the door a loud DING DONG resounds in my house and I nearly jump out of my skin and quickly straighten out my marigold sundress and hurry to the door. I fumble with the door a bit until I manage to fling it open. There a man leans against the door frame in a silk maroon suit, a black bow tie, a white undershirt with white lines and black polished cowboy boots and a cowboy hat drooped down over his face. He slowly looks up and flashes a big toothy grin and flicks his hat up.  
“Hey there sunshine.” The grin only widens as he sees me go red. “You about ready for this here date we’ve got?” He extends a hand at that and I nod before placing my own in his, his hand is warm and rough. I grip his hand and he returns in kind. “You trying to challenge me short stuff? I got the strongest grip out on the ranch.” He says while leading you down the stairs out onto the small walkway towards the driveway.  
“Of course not!” I say, loosening my grip.  
He lets out a hearty laugh. “I’m messing short stuff, you don’t gotta take things so seriously.” He punctuates his sentence with a grip back on your hand.  
That flustered me a bit and I can feel a small sheen of sweat. “Is it hot out here?” I almost stutter out, then my foot catches a piece of concrete jutting out of the walkway and I fall, he quickly turns and catches me against his chest.  
“Whoa there sunshine, what’s got you so mixed up?” A deep concern evident in the man’s voice as he looks down to you, his beard trimmed neatly and the warmth in his eyes knocking any nervousness out of you. “I ain’t much of a looker, so it can’t be me.” He says and looks you up and down, he brushes off a bit of dust that got kicked up onto your dress. “There we go, that’s better.” He cradles his chin in between his thumb and forefinger and his eyes light up. “Now I know why I been callin’ you sunshine! You and that dress are just about as bright as the sun.” He flashes his grin again.  
“No, no, no, it’s absolutely nothing.” I laugh nervously before blushing at his comment. “You know you better not talk like that.” I chide him playfully and hit his shoulder. “You’d be surprised at how good you look right now.” I manage to get out before my face goes completely red and he laughs.  
“Confidence, I like that.” His grin almost his entire face now. “Might wanna get rid of the tomato syndrome though.” He laughs and flicks my nose. My hands instantly go to my face and I shy away.  
“Jesse! Stop!” I say through my own smile, my face hot under my hands.  
Jesse simply continues to laugh while he holds my hand and we finally get to his car. “Now, I know it ain’t much of a looker next to these newer cars, but it’s been a family heirloom for a while and nothing beats the feeling of an antique engine roaring to life.” He opens the door and a slight squeak comes out. I let out a breath of awe while I looked at the bright red car. “Almost as pretty as you ain’t it?” I felt my face get hot again. “Whoa whoa! Watch out or you’ll be the same color as the car.” He says as he helps me into the car, white leather greets me as I sit and I make sure that my dress doesn’t get wrinkled. Jesse jogs around the car and quickly gets inside and cranks the car to life. The roar of the engine makes me jump and Jess laughs again. “What’s wrong sunshine? Never been in an old clunker like this have ya?”  
“No. I’ve seen them in old magazines my grandpa had, but never in real life.” I say while running my hand along the hand rest and down to the chrome window crank. I look at it oddly and Jesse laughs again.  
“I’m guessing those magazines didn’t talk about some of the older mechanical stuff in these babies did they?” He says and reaches down to his own crank and runs the window down. I quickly do the same, realizing what it does. Then he reaches down to a long thing at the floorboard and shoves it a certain way before backing out of the driveway. We make our way out onto the pavement and I feel the car lurch and the engine roar once more as Jesse maneuvers the stick in different ways.  
“I’m guessing that’s a gearshift?” I say while looking at him quickly move it again as the wind flowing in through the windows gets faster.  
“You’d be right sunshine.” He grins again and after his last shift. “Now, put your hand on mine and I’ll show ya how it’s done.”  
“Wh-what! I couldn’t! What if I mess this thing up?” I stammer out before he takes my hand and places it on the ball, it fits into the palm of my hand perfectly and before I can draw it back he sets his own hand onto it and quickly shifts into the next gear.  
“See? Nothin’ to it.” Jesse looks over at me and winks. “Nothin’ to it at all sunshine.”  
I simply stay red faced as the warmth of Jesse’s hand creeps over mine, his fingers interlock in mine and I can feel him relax. “Phew, you don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for a way to do that.” He chuckles.  
“Do what, Jesse?” I ask, almost lost in our hands being interlocked like this.  
“Why hold your hand of course sunshine.” He exhales.  
I almost yank my hand and the shift away from his hand as the words hit me, I can feel my everything turning red with embarrassment.  
He lets out another hearty laugh as he keeps our hands steady through my blunder. “Now, I know I’m not the smoothest of guys out there, but I like to think that caught you off guard a bit.” He continues to laugh until I reach over and smack his arm with my free hand.  
I nearly yell. “Of course you did dummy! I didn’t expect anything like that.” My face still red and heart beating in my ears. I can feel his thumb begin to stroke my own as he stops laughing.  
“Well next time I’ll give ya a little heads up, how’s that sound?” He flashes a toothy grin and looks at me from the corner of his eye.  
I open my mouth and slowly close it. “I think I’ll stick with the surprises, since I might surprise you one of these days.” My words come out calmly though my face is still hot.  
“Oh? Is that so? Does that mean I’ll have to get in a better surprise before you can get me?” His words prodded at me and I slowly realized that I might’ve gotten myself in a little deep.  
“Why yes it does!” I spout hastily and gaze out the window, keeping my eyes from meeting his. The sun is still setting and I can see town slowly approaching, the vast fields of green are alight with slow burning golden strands of gold, dotted with rubies. A few moments pass in silence.  
“Beautiful, ain’t it Sunshine?” I hear from behind me. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it.” Jesse continues on. I turn my head back around to him, forgetting about the previous bravado.  
“Better watch out there cowpoke, you’re starting to sound like a cowboy.” I chide gently.  
Jesse scoffs at me and our eyes meet for a second before he flicks them back to the road. “Sunshine if I’m just now starting to sound like a cowboy then you might need to get that ole Sherlock guy to teach you how to pick up on things.” He quickly reaches a hand up and flicks my nose, to which I slap his hand away and he smirks.  
“Well you clean up so nicely I would’ve never guessed you were a cowboy.” I say from behind my hands. A quick moment of silence comes between us as I feel the car slow to a stop in the middle of the road, it’s broken by Jesse’s hand reaching up and peeling my hands away. Through the slowly breaking crack I can spot the lights of the city blaring ahead of me as night has fallen.  
“So miss Sunshine, you think I clean up nicely?” Jesse’s voice has an air of vulnerability to it, his face close to my own now, the warmth from his breath is heavy and I can smell the faint bitterness of cigar. My mind is starting to race now, my eyes scan his face until our eyes meet and I inhale sharply.  
“Wh-why yes…I-I do think you d-do.” I stammer out, my hand that was removed beginning to lock with Jesse’s until he pulls back.  
“Well I’m glad one of us does!” He lets out a raucous laugh and readjusts in his seat, his hand stays locked with mine and rests out hands on the gear shift. His thumb slowly rubs across my own and my mouth hangs open.  
“Wh-what was that!!??” I ask incredulously, my mind racing once more as we rocket down the asphalt, the buildings climb high and traffic is light.  
“What could ya ever mean?” Jesse asks, a cheeky grin creeping across his face.  
“You know what I mean Jesse McCree!” I exclaim.  
“Well, as bad as I wanted to kiss you, I knew you wanted it too and I can’t go giving up all the goods on the first date can I?” He chides, he gives a reassuring squeeze to my hand.  
My mind is sent into a flurry at that sentence. “K-kiss…?” I manage to get out as we round a corner.  
“Yeah, you know, like the old song about the two kids in a tree.” He continues to smile. “I didn’t lose ya there did I Sunshine? ‘Cuz we’re almost at the place and I don’t know how I’d explain a pretty girl like yourself bein’ in a daze.” He lets out another laugh. “Could ya imagine?”  
I shake my head quickly getting rid of the cloud in my brain. “For just a second or two you might’ve caught me off guard but I’m back and better than ever now.” I say back. “So no weirdness needs to be explained.”  
“Good! Good! Cuz we just arrived.” Jesse says as he parks the car and rolls his window up which I follow suit on my own side. Jesse gets out and rushes over to my side of the vehicle and opens up the door. “You ready Sunshine?” He asks as I gaze up at him, the city lights going up the buildings make his face far more angular than I’m used to seeing.  
“I think I am, cowpoke.” I say and he offers his hand.  
“Well let’s get on in there!” Excitement seeping into his voice as I take his hand and he nearly drags me out of the car. I giggle at his childish demeanor. We walk closer to the small building, the ker-thud from his boots overtakes my soft taps and the little restaurant finally comes fully into view. It’s a chrome building, with red lines near the bottom going around it and large window panes showing patrons inside drinking and eating with one another. A waitress bustles back and forth to tables as we make our way up the steps and Jesse holds the door open for me. “Ladies first Sunshine.” He says and removes his hat while I step through the door.  
“Jesse! How are ya!” The middle aged short waitress greets him happily before she looks at me. “Is this that girl you keep talking our ears off about?” She asks and Jesse puts his hat up to his face.  
“Yes ma’am it is, this is my Sunshine.” He says sheepishly.  
“Oh now don’t go gettin’ shy about this pretty little lady.” She says and looks to me. “My name’s Rachel and your cowboy here is always talking about his Sunshine.” She says and smiles. “But that’s enough of giving the boy a hard time, what brings you two here today?” She reaches into her apron and withdraws a small pad of paper and a pen.  
“We’re on our first date.” I say, my own voice just as low as Jesse’s was.  
“My my! What a happy occasion! Well I’ll treat you two good tonight and I’ll make sure ole Jesse here minds his manners.” She looks from me to Jesse who has moved his hat down from his face only to put it back over immediately. I begin to laugh a bit.  
“What’s wrong Jesse?” I say as Rachel begins to giggle with me.  
“Just that Miss Rachel here is trying to embarrass me and I ain’t never brought anyone here with me, much less a date.” He says, his voice remaining quiet.  
“Well quit bein’ so bashful and tell me what you kids want.” She clicks her pen and puts it to the paper and begins to walk us to a table for two.  
“We’ll have a large peanut butter milkshake, two straws, two cherries and load her up with whipped cream please if you don’t mind Miss Rachel.” Jesse says as he sits down. I sit across from him and cross my legs under the table.  
“I’ll have mixed up for ya in just a minute. Now don’t you two have too much fun without me.” She says as she writes down the order and walks away.  
Jesse exhales deeply.  
“What’s wrong Jesse?” I ask and I reach out a hand to his.  
“I’m glad that’s over with.” He sets his hat down on the table and leans back. “I was expecting her to start telling stories about back when I was a kid.”  
“Oh?” I say while I wait for him to continue.  
“Yeah…way back when I was knee high to a boot, she was my babysitter while my dad was out working the farm and my momma working here in the city. I love her like a mom to tell ya the truth.” Jesse fiddled with his hands until I reach out and take one.  
“And that’s how she can send the big strong cowboy into a fit of embarrassment?” I smile at this. “It’s cute.” I say and rub my own thumb around his.  
“Whoa there, don’t go getting sweet on me Sunshine, ya here?” Jesse says.  
“Well if I don’t, then who would shine on a rough and tumble cowboy like yourself?”  
“Well…” Jesse’s face goes a shade of red himself.  
“I’m playing with ya Jesse.” I say and smile. “I thought you’d be the one leading, not me.” I say with a chiding tone, just as Rachel appears with the milkshake, two large red straws sticking out of the mountain of whipped cream.  
“Whoo boy, you’ve got poor little Jess here on the ropes don’t ya?” She says with a smile and pats Jesse’s shoulder. “Now don’t go givin’ him too hard a time, enjoy yourselves.” She says, her smile warmer than ever and she walks away.  
Jesse quickly puts his face over to the straw and takes a deep drink before I can say anything. “I’ll never get tired of the taste of these things, go on, take a drink.” He says, the red faced child gone and replaced with an ecstatic one now.  
I put my face over the wide red and white striped straw and take a gulp from the milkshake, the taste of creamy peanut butter fills my mouth along with small bits of nut. The thick mixture is surprisingly smooth. “Wow…that is good!” I say excitedly as Jesse takes another sip himself and pulling back with a loud sigh.  
“I never choose wrong.” He says and winks at me. To which I can feel a flutter strike my heart. Then I eye the two cherries on top of the high pile of whipped cream and pluck one.  
“Then you chose right cowpoke.” I say with a smile and pop the cherry into my mouth, the sweet syrup mixes gracefully with the taste of peanut butter and I quickly chew it and swallow while keeping the stem in my mouth, his face turns quizzical after he sees that I’m still chewing.  
“Now I hope you ain’t gonna go choking on the stem of the cherry.” He says, a bit of worry in his voice. A few moments after I look at him and stick my tongue out and on it lay a cherry stem tied in a knot. I pluck it off my tongue and set it down. “Well damn Sunshine, I sure did pick right didn’t I?” He lets out a laugh. “But I do want you to teach me how to do that sometime.”  
“Sorry, I can only teach in one on one lessons and I just don’t know if a cowpoke like yourself is qualified.” I smile at Jesse and he goes red in the face.  
“Sunshine, I’ll do more than prove it.” His voice sinks low as he finishes his sentence but before I can reply he chimes in. “After we finish this milkshake that is!” He gives me a goofy grin and takes another big swallow from the milkshake.  
“Jesse I just don’t know what I’m gonna do with you.” A soft smile spreads across my face and I take another drink from the milkshake.  
“You’re gonna help me finish this milkshake is what you’re gonna do.” He says and takes another big gulp.  
“You’ve got me there.” I say and take another sip and the milkshake is gone save for some whip cream and another cherry. I stick my finger into the cream and dab Jesse’s nose.  
“Hey! That’s prime property sweetheart.” He says with a laugh and grabs a dab onto his own finger before mushing it into my cheek and I let out my own laugh, soon both of our faces are sticky and we’re both laughing as other patrons in the restaurant have joined in with the laughter. Soon Rachel returns snickering with our check.  
“As always Jesse, it’s a pleasure for everyone when you come in, and doubly so now that you have this pretty little thing with ya.” She says and smiles at me.  
Nervously I answer back. “Thank you ma’am.”  
“Now don’t go getting bashful on me, I saw how you were doing Jesse.” She lets out a laugh and picks up the check. “You know what, this one will be on the house. Now you two go on and get outta here, I’m sure you’ve got better things to do than sit and listen to an old woman.”  
Jesse springs from his seat and embraces Rachel. “Thank you so much!” She gives him a peck on his cheek.  
“No problem Jesse, you picked a good one.” She says and smiles at me again.  
I get up from my seat and Jesse takes my hand into his and we make our way out of the restaurant, He leads me to my side of the car and opens the door for me.  
“My my, such a gentleman.” I chide and get in.  
He scoffs and smiles. “Only for you Sunshine.”  
Jesse attempts to make his way to his side of the car but messes the slide up a bit and nearly falls onto the ground before catching himself and gets into the car red faced. “You didn’t see that did you?” His voice is shaky as he cranks the car to life.  
“I don’t know what you mean, I don’t know what I could have ever saw.” I say and smirk at him.  
“Y-yeah.” He coughs a bit and pulls us out of the parking lot and onto the road. He then takes a deep breath and turns his head towards me once we’ve made our way out of the city limits. “Now, before I drop you off at home, I’d like to show you one more thing.”  
“And what would that be?” I say as I scoot a little close to him and sneak my right hand onto his on the gearshift. Even from this close I can smell the soft scent of the cologne he’s wearing, it smells oaky and before he answers he slides his hand off the gearshift and around my shoulders and pulls me close. I can feel his warmth and the ranch made muscles under his shirt against me, it nearly overwhelms me as my head begins to swim.  
“A special spot I’ve been saving to show someone special to me.” He says and his hand goes back to the gearshift on top of mine and he keeps me close, my mind swirls at these words. The moon illuminates the road along with the high beams from the car, grass sways on each side of the road and there’s not a cloud in the sky as we speed along. The road is smooth and the shine of the headlights off of the pavement markers offer bright yellow eyes that look back at us. Soon we begin to slow as Jesse downshifts and pulls onto a dirt road. This road is not as kind as the pavement but only gives a bump from time to time. Soon after driving through a few pastures and solitary cows staring at us as we pass them we finally reach a small cliff overlooking a dry riverbed. Jesse puts the car in park and opens his door, a cool breeze enters into the car and he slowly gets out after removing his arm from around me. “Come on Sunshine, you need to see this.”  
He waits for me to get out on his side, the scent of his cologne lingers in the air where he was and I get out and shut the door behind me, The faint breeze plays a soft melody for us as I walk around to the front of the car where Jesse is leaning against it with his arms crossed looking out over the riverbed.  
“Hey there cowpoke, what did ya bring me out here for?” I ask gently as I sneak one of my hands up through his crossed arms and pull myself close to him. He takes a deep inhale and looks up at the sky.  
“Well, I’ve been saving this place to show someone special for a while, if ya had been paying attention you would’ve caught that.” He says and looks down at me and smiles. “And the moment I saw you I knew you would be that special someone.” Then he looks down at me, “Never realized how short you were Sunshine.” He laughs a bit and pauses. “Or how cute you are.” He almost whispers, the wind dies down just before he says it and I hear it full brunt. He starts to lean down towards me and I can hear my heartbeat begin to quicken. His arm reaches around me and he picks me up and sets me on the hood of the car and stops. “That’s better, now I won’t have to bend down so far.”  
“Wh-what for?” I stammer out, my mind is swimming again.  
“For when I kiss you Sunshine.” He states and gets close to me again, his arms wrap around me and before he gets any closer. “Now close your eyes.” I follow his words and I can hear my heartbeat in my ears. The wind resumes again and I can feel it cool against my hot face, then after a moment of hesitation I feel Jesse’s thumb brush against my cheek and I feel the warmth of his face get close to mine and another moment of pause. His lips meet mine and my mind goes blank as I revel in this moment, we stay like that for a while, enjoying each other’s lips and eventually we pull away from each other. “Wow Sunshine.” Jesse says breathlessly. “You are a damn fine kisser.” He speaks in between getting his breath back.  
I mumble. “Yeah thanks…you too…” I fall into his arms and he carries me around to put me in the car where I fall asleep, but not before feeling him plant one more kiss on my forehead. I feel the soft rumble of the car as I sleep and soon I feel his hand slide into mine and tighten slightly. The night passes quickly and Jesse takes precaution to not hit any bumps and eventually I feel his slowly shake me awake.  
“Hey Sunshine, you’re home.” He says softly and opens his door and walks around to my side, opens mine and picks me up. He walks slowly, my head rests against his chest and he climbs the stairs to my door, I reach out to a small box on the wall and remove a key, he takes it from my hand and unlocks the door. He walks inside and sets me down on the sofa in the living room. “Now I’m gonna go home, you get some rest, ok?” He says softly and leans down to kiss me one more time after I nod yes, this time much more soft and I hear the soft thud of his boots as he walks out of the house and locks the door behind him.


	2. Meet The Parent

I wonder where that wild cowboy could be? I think to myself as I lean against a post on my porch. He was supposed to be here 30 minutes ago. I hope that crazy boy hasn’t gotten himself into any trouble. My eyes creep down and I smile before shaking my head. Of course he’s fine, Jesse “ain’t no normal cowpoke.”. With that I look up and see that familiar red hotrod creeping over the tarmac towards my house and my heart jumps. See? Miss worrywart. I hear in Jesse’s voice, I shake my head again slightly and I move back across the porch to a rocking chair, the thud of my boots against the wooden porch accompany me as I sit down and the creak of the old oak helps calm my nerves. I lean back and close my eyes while a soft breeze tickles my skin, the flannel shirt I chose keeps me from getting too cool and the blue jeans do the same. A few minutes later I hear the car pull into the driveway but not turn off, my eye creeps open and my favorite voice comes out of it.  
“Come on sweetheart! We gotta get to the ranch before my Pa has my hide!” He yells out and I pop out of the rocking chair then bolt down the stairs towards him. A little color creeps into my face and I quickly open and shut the door after jumping inside. I can see that Jesse is definitely not the cleanest I’ve ever seen him, a quick glance shows a dirt covered face and the smell of earth hits my nostrils but before I can think I’m struck with his white teeth shining through it all and I feel my heart skip a beat. “Now how’s my favorite ray of sunshine doing today?” He says before leaning over and giving me a kiss.  
My head spins, again. “Uh…way better than a few minutes ago.” I say and laugh a bit.  
“Well that’s what it’s all about ain’t it?” He says and chuckles before throwing the car in reverse. “Now hold on.” He says, giving me a brief moment to clutch the door handle and nearly tosses me into the floorboard as he whips the car out onto the road and takes off. “Didn’t I say hold on?” He says with another chuckle before helping me get back into my seat.  
After my heart calms down a bit I look at him. “You gotta give a girl a little more time than that!” I say and slap at his arm, to which a cloud of dust and dirt assaults the inside of the car.  
“Sorry Sunshine, you don’t know my pa.” He says and continues to floor the gas, out of the corner of my eye I see the speedometer’s needle rise higher and higher, if that weren’t a big enough clue, the force from gaining speed is pushing me backwards into my seat. Thankfully the road ahead is smooth. Otherwise I would’ve been thrown into the ceiling of the car. Thankfully this lasted only a few minutes and soon we drew near the road that Jesse lived down. He slowed down before careening down the dirt road, and just before I could speak he stomped the gas and sent me sprawling once more. This time I slid across the slick leather seat and into his arm before he helped me back into my position and quickly reaching over and buckling my seatbelt. “I’m gonna have to hang a sign in here, ain’t I?” He laughs heartily at this before patting my knee.   
“Just like last time, I’ll take just a little bit of warning.” I say while wiping away a bead of sweat that has begun to trickle down my face. My breathing a little jerky as I watch Jesse quickly change gear multiple times until we are at max speed once more. The old beaten dirt road is not as kind as the paved asphalt and now I feel it with a large bump, thankfully the seatbelt keeps me in my seat and I glance at Jesse. He smirks and winks at me.   
“Didn’t need to warn ya that time did I?” He keeps his hands on the wheel this time, and I notice that his knuckles are almost white.   
“Are we nervous?” I retort back and a large pothole takes a wheel as I try to touch his hand and I’m bounced into the air and decide against it. I fix my disheveled clothes as the constant bouncing has drug my shirt up over my stomach a bit.   
“Never went this fast down this road before. Excuse me this time Sunshine if you wouldn’t mind.” A pang of embarrassment hits me.   
“Your dad must be a really scary guy if you’re willing to zoom down this--” we hit another large bump and I hear a rock get thrown up into the wheel well. I hear Jesse mutter something inaudible. “Fast!” I exclaim and I finally can feel the car slow down.   
“Honey, you have no idea.” Jesse says as he coasts onto another road, this time he does not speed up and now I can see two large wooden posts rising on each side of an open wooden gate. At the top of each post a large iron own peers down onto the road, both are rusted a bit, the wood is aged and from the posts two barbed wire fences span into the distance. Through dusty grasslands, small tumbleweeds bounce off in the distance in one direction and in another a short field of what looks to be wheat pushes into the horizon. Once we’ve passed through the gate I can see a large ranch house, three stories tall with a large porch going all the way around, contrasting greatly to the almost cryptic entrance as it has two large white pillars with a red brick walkway leading up to it. Several large flower pots line the steps, each barring different colors of flowers, varying from warm golden hues to deep mysterious violets and crimson reds. Jesse finally coasts to a stop and parks nearby the house. When he cranks the parking break upwards he exhales and looks at the time. “Thank goodness, looks like we made it just in time sunshine.” He sits back for a minute.  
“Just in time for what?” I ask, still not sure what is in store for today. The car quickly grows hot after Jesse turns it off and I can feel my shirt and the seat beginning to stick to me.   
“For me to take you out to ride some horses before my pa gets done with his chores today and wants to meet you.” He shivers.   
“It won’t be that bad, I’m sure.”   
“Sunshine, for both of our sakes I hope so.”   
“Have you never brought a girl home before?”   
“Well, nobody but you has ever done this to me so...no.” He says almost nervously.   
“Jesse, it’s ok.” I unbuckle my seatbelt and lean over, then give him a kiss on the cheek. “Everything will be a-ok.” and I lay my hand on top of his, to which he flips his and locks his fingers with mine.  
“Thanks sunshine, I needed that.” He then leans over and kisses me. “You always know how to get my head back on track.” Then he sits back and puts his hand on the handle to open the car. “Now let’s get on out of this car, it’s getting a little warm don’t ya think?” I notice the little spot of sweat seeping through the front of his shirt. The buttons have come undone a little and I can see his tanned chest a bit and I have to catch my breath.   
“Y-yeah, its getting hot in here.” I say and fan my shirt a little bit before opening my door. I catch a grin on Jesse’s face before we both step out of the car. The sun beats down on us as we step out and Jesse quickly ushers me up the stairs and inside the large, three story, house. The cool air blesses us as we step inside and I look around. A large staircase leads up to the second and third levels, large white balustrades with owls carved into them lead up on both sides of the staircase, brown carpet lines the stairs and my eyes go to each side now after exhaling loudly, two hallways lead on each side the floor is polished wood that sheens in the light. Jesse closes the door behind us and almost immediately I can hear footsteps upstairs racing towards us and a face pops out from a hallway. A girl of hispanic descent peers at us and slings a cheeky grin at us. She continues to walk and once she’s reached the top of the stairs she gets on and slides down. She lands almost cat like and strolls towards us. She’s wearing all purple pyjamas sporting a skull design on them.   
“So...this is Jesse’s Sunshine.” She goads. “I finally get to meet the dream girl.” She ends with a snicker and I look to Jesse, whose face has become tomatolike.   
“Yes Adrianna, this is Sunshine.” His voice is shakey.   
“It’s very nice to meet you.” I say, “But Jesse hasn’t said anything about you before, who are you?”   
She puts her hands up to her face and gasps. “You mean to tell me that Jesse hasn’t told you about his favorite sister?” She walks up to Jesse and pokes his chest. “Come on now Jesse, it’s only fair that you tell her about your family before bringing her over here.” She backs up and takes a curtsy. “I am Adrianna, miss Sunshine, I work for our pops as the tech for the ranch.” She says and comes back up. “And I kick Jesse’s ass in every videogame we play.”   
“When are you gonna let that go Adri, that was when we were kids.”   
“Yeah and it’s still a victory I’m going to keep on my wall until the end of forever.” She says and turns around and starts to walk off. She then calls back. “Take good care of my big brother little miss Sunshine, or else.” And she runs back up the stairs to her room.   
“So...Adrianna seems interesting.” I say and giggle a bit.   
“She’s definitely something.” Jesse says and I can see him release a breath and his body relax. “I had thought she was going to be a bit meaner, but she surprised me.” He removes his hat and scratches his head. “Wonder why, the way she talked yesterday she was going to rip into you.” He replaces his hat, takes my hand and walks me to another door.   
“Well, maybe she thinks I’m a good person?” I ask tentatively.  
“I don’t think it takes too much to see that you are good, maybe that is why she wasn’t mean. Anyway, how about I teach you how to ride some horses Sunshine?” He asks as we exit the house and a large horse stable can be seen a few hundred feet from the back porch. He holds my hand to steady me as we make our way down the stairs, we make our way to the stable, jesse’s spurs jingle and jangle with each step.   
“Any other family members I should know about?”   
“Well, I’ve got a brother named genji.”   
“Genji? Is he japanese?”   
“Well yeah, he’s adopted, it’s no secret to him so it’s not big deal to talk about.”   
“Does he have any family?”   
“A brother, and that guy is a real piece of work.”   
“Is his name stereotypical too?”   
Jesse laughs at this, a deep hearty laugh. “Oh man, how did you know?”   
“A guess.”   
“Well you were right, his name is Hanzo, and I hate that guy.”  
“Why is that? I can’t imagine you hating anyone really.”   
“He hurt genji. Bad.”   
“Ah, I’m sorry to have asked.”   
Jesse stops. “No, that’s no secret either, it’s one of the biggest reasons that we took him in, he visits sometimes but I try to avoid him as much as I can. He says he’s sorry but I don’t believe a damn word out of his mouth.” He looks around before leaning in close. “And there’s a rumor going around that he has a crush on me and I’ll be damned if he ever tries anything--”   
“I’ll gut him like a fish.” I say plainly.   
Jesse laughs, and starts walking again. “Anyway, on to better things.” We close the distance to the stable and Jesse opens the door. Dozens of horses neighing can be heard from inside. “Well here we are, home of the most beautiful horses this side of the mississippi.” The smell of hay is heavy in the air. “Any idea on what you want to ride?”   
An image flies across my mind that would be better to not say aloud. “Uhh...Do you have any overo horses? I always liked that coloration the best.”   
“Hmmm, good taste there sunshine, yeah we’ve got a few and I’ll go with my faithful girl Homeboy Chris.”   
“Well...that’s a name…” I say flatly.  
“Hey! She’s a good horse that I named a while back.” He exclaims, embarassed. “The name of the horse you’ll be riding is Marshall actually, he’s a smooth ride, experienced and works well with beginners.”   
“Sounds referential.” I say but shrug it off. “Let’s saddle up then cowpoke.” 

After a few minutes of saddling up we rode off for a few hours, the sun still relatively high in the sky slowly started to set. After I became comfortable with my horse Jesse and I raced through the fields until he finally called me to him and we began the next race back to the house and after stabling the horses we made our way inside to a dark skinned man with his arms crossed, tapping his foot on the floor. 

“P-pa!” Jesse exclaims and steps forward.   
“Good evening Jesse.” The man says, his bearded face bearing scars and his voice gravelly. “And is this that dream girl you have been talking about?” He casts a glance at me, his eyes are cold as he sizes me up. A shiver goes up my spine This guy is intimidating as hell.   
“Did you two have fun on your ride?” He asks and I nod. “Good, I’m glad Jesse is taking good care of you.”   
Jesse swallows loudly and nods. “Yes pa, I learned how to treat a woman from you after all.”   
Jesse’s dad smirks. “Then I know he’s treating you right and I’ll have his ass otherwise. You can call me Gabriel.”   
“Not Mr. Reyes?” I ask, the nervousness slowly fading out of me.   
“No, Mr. Reyes was my father.” He says and Jesse covers his face with his hand.   
“Pa...come on…”   
Gabriel lets out a loud laugh and lets his scary facade falter for a moment. “I’m a father Jesse.” Then composes himself. “Are you two almost ready for dinner?” He asks, looking back and forth at us. “It’s almost done and I’ve been waiting on you two before I finished it.”   
“I’m so sorry to keep you waiting Mr. Gabriel.” I say and bow my head.   
“Yeah, sorry pa, but would it be ok to wait a little longer, I’d like to clean up before dinner.” Jesse says and takes a step back, to which dust falls off of him and Gabriel grimaces.   
“Go ahead, I’ll finish it while you’re in the shower.” He says and starts to walk off. Once he is out of earshot Jesse starts to walk up the stairs with my hand in his.   
“Guess it’s time for you to see my room, excuse the little bit of mess up there.” And with his other hand he rubs the back of his head, then removes his hat and carries it with him.  
“Ooh, I’m excited!” I exclaim. “I wonder what the legendary cowman of my dreams’ room is like.” I wonder aloud.   
“Don’t get too worked up over it Sunshine.” He says and we reach the top of the stairs, we then walk a few doors down and Jesse stops, his hand reaches for the handle and he turns it. We walk inside and I gasp. His room is medium sized, his bed sitting in the middle of the back wall and the floors shiny wood, a large rug lays in front of it. I turn to survey everything, I see two more doors and above his bed is a picture of a horse, there are two dressers one sporting another picture and I walk to it, it sports four people. A much younger Gabriel, Jesse around the age of 14, Adrianna peeking around a woman in a white dress. She is beautiful, almost angelic looking and I push my questions about her to the back of my mind and I turn around to see Jesse slowly removing his shirt. His buttons are completely undone and his chiseled chest is peering at me as he turns to hang his hat on the corner of a dresser.   
“W-wow…” I stammer out as my eyes examine his chest.   
Jesse raises an eyebrow. “What?” he asks, dumbfounded until he sees where my eyes are. “Oh yeah, this is the first time you’ve seen me shirtless ain’t it?” He says and walks over to me, each step calculated, he reaches me and takes my hand into his. “Touch me.” He almost orders and places my hand onto his chest. He’s warm, comfortably so, like I’ve come home and my hand slowly traces over the small dips in his muscles. Then my hand starts to go up his neck, I can feel the pulsing of the veins in his neck, I trace over his adam’s apple and then his jawline. His whiskers tickle my fingers ever so slightly and I cup his face, my thumb goes over the scar on his lip and my eyes meet his.   
“That must’ve hurt.” I say, my mind in almost a haze.   
“It does sometimes, but you can make it feel better.” With that he lowers his face to mine.   
Without a pause I push my face to his and kiss him. His lips are warm, and with that his arms wrap around me, and he pushes his lips against mine hard. His arms lift me and he walks us to the bed where he lays both of us. His hands slide up and down my back, his hands then slide up my shirt and move it above my head, his skin is warm on my own and I feel his tongue flick at my lips. I accept him and our tongues touch, tentatively at first before we kiss even harder and his hands slide down my back and I feel both of his hands grab my bottom. He grunts and I moan as he moves his face away from my own and begins to kiss my cheek before moving down to my neck where he kisses a few times before giving a light suck. He moves his face in a way and in almost a whisper he says. “You taste so good…” He then goes back to kissing all over me, from my neck down to my collarbones and across the top of my bra and I can feel something hard against my leg as he moves back up to kiss my lips once more. I pull away from his lips for a second and breathe out.  
“What is that against my leg?”   
“It ain’t a pack of gum sweetheart.” He says and kisses me once more again, and I move my against it and he moans with a deep grumble.   
Oh!  
I move one of my hands down from his back and work it slowly downwards, feeling his chest and abs as I do, but before I reach the button of his jeans, one of his hands comes down and grabs my wrist. He pulls away once more and moans out.   
“As much as I want it, it’s a little soon for that Sunshine.” And before I can respond he kisses me once more, his beard tickles me lightly and he moves his hands away from my bottom and up towards my chest where he pulls away and looks at me curiously, and with a nod I admit him and just as he is about to remove my bra a knock comes to the door, and a gravelly voice calls out.   
“Jesse! I don’t hear that shower going yet, now hurry up son. I know you’re talking to your dreamgirl but you’re holding up other people that want to eat!” He knocks three times quickly and walks away.   
“Mood killer.” Jesse says as he pulls away with an exasperated sigh.   
My mind is swirling. “Well that’s no fun.” I say, pouting.   
“Don’t worry Sunshine, we’ll have more time.” He says sadly, “but for now I have to get ready for dinner.” He jumps up off the bed. His face is now a deep red. “Sorry again about that, it’s not too much fun being…blocked.”   
“You can say that again.” I say and reach for my shirt. “But you’re right, we gotta save some fun for later, right?”   
Jesse winks at me. “Just what I was thinking Sunshine.” He rummages through his dressers and pulls out some clothing before bounding to the shower. Which he quickly turns on and I can hear him step in and yelp a bit as the cold water hits his skin.   
I giggle and yell out. “Be careful you don’t hurt yourself in there cowpoke.” And I lay back. I quickly adjust my clothes and hair before closing my eyes and listening to the sound of water hitting the tub. With a little fantasizing about my cowman. He soon emerges, completely clean, his hair straight and dressed in blue jeans and a red t-shirt.   
“I see you’ve went from cowboy professional to casual friday.” I poke at him.   
“Pa would kill me if I came down there dressed like I was at work, he likes his separation of work and home life.”   
“Hmm, smart guy.”   
“One of the smartest.” Jesse pats his pockets. “Well, he should be done with dinner by now and we don’t want to let it get cold. Come on Sunshine, it’s time to eat.” and with that we quickly make our way downstairs and into the dining room, where Gabriel sits patiently and an annoyed Adrianna taps her plate with a fork, and a pale man with dark hair sits quietly, in a what looks like a meditative state.   
“Thank god, it took you two long enough.” She exhales and looks to Gabriel. “Time to eat pops?”   
Gabriel stands and removes five silver tops from platters and a mouth watering scent meets everyone’s nose, the man awakens immediately and looks around the room. Jesse takes a seat out for me and we both sit on one side of the table next to Adrianna. She looks at me with a knowing look and my face goes red and Jesse sits forward so I can’t see her and Gabriel starts to plate the food.   
“Where is Akande and Amelie?” Jesse asks curiously. “They rarely miss dinner.”   
“I sent them out, I wanted to eat with my family tonight.” He says.   
“Are you going to introduce us Jesse?” The man across from us asks calmly.  
“Sunshine, this is genji.” He says.   
“Very nice to meet you Genji.”   
“I’m sure Jesse didn’t speak to much about me.”   
“I gave her the important details, we were hurrying along to get to our horse riding.”   
“Ah, I hope you two enjoyed yourselves.” He says before digging into his food,   
“Of course we did, I always enjoy my time with Jesse.” I say happily and Adrianna groans.  
“If you get this sickly sweet everytime you come over I’ll be eating alone.”   
“Oh stop Adrianna.” Gabriel says. “Eat, everyone, it’s delicious.”   
We all commence eating and the first bite surprises me, it’s delicious and after that, just like everyone else I find it hard to find time to speak in between bites. By the time everyone has finished there is no food, Genji and Adrianna leave soon after.   
“Night pops”  
“Goodnight father.” They both say as they make their way out.   
“Goodnight, sleep well you two.” He calls out to them before sitting his chin on his crossed hands. “It was very nice to make your acquaintance today. I can see that Jesse likes you very much and I give you two my blessing. But, if you do hurt him, you’ll have more than just me to deal with. Adrianna can be a very, very scary girl. Though she does give him a hard time she loves him.”   
“Thank you sir!” I exclaim, “You have no idea how good it feels to know that you are happy with us being together.”   
Jesse lets out another breath he had been holding. “Yeah, thanks Pa, I knew you would approve of her.” He holds my hand and gives it a little squeeze.   
“Now Jesse, it’s late, I think you should get her home and get on back so you can be ready for tomorrow morning.”   
Jesse looks at a clock on the wall and sees how late it is. “Yeah let’s get you home Sunshine.”   
I stand up. “Thank you very much for having me Mr. Gabriel.” And with that Jesse gets up and we both walk out of the door, we get in Jesse’s car and he soon drops me off, after one more kiss. We both bade each other goodnight and my sleep is deep and I dream of many things that night.


End file.
